Darkling
by Ishuzu
Summary: Eternal happiness would be a bore," she said. "It's not for those of us here, at the end." Elizabeth lets Jack in on a secret. Based after AWE.


His boots touched the white sand and the water's edge and he already knew this was a bad idea. But he had promised to "visit" when he passed her way, and, well... you just didn't lie to Elizabeth. Or... well, you did, but not about visiting her. The woman was plunked on an island in the middle of no-man's land, for God's sake, and hadn't had any human contact since... Jack wrinkled his nose. No, he didn't want to think about what _they _had done the last time they'd seen each other... what they had done... probably all over the island...

Jack took tentative, squeamish steps across the beach, not sure what he was actually trying to avoid, and snapped to attention when he heard the woman's voice carry across the the windy afternoon.

"Jack!" He gave her his best fake smile and she gathered her skirts to run and meet him at the shore. As he watched her float across the dunes, he wondered again why he had bothered to come when it was such a bad idea in the first place. But Jack had become accustom to arguing with himself, especially over the same thing more than once, so he was half-way through his earlier thought process when she was suddenly standing, beaming, before him.

Her face had gotten a few more freckles and her eyes sparkled darkly. Otherwise, Jack didn't see much else different about the girl he had saved from drowning all those years ago... at least that was how he remembered it.

"I'm glad you came." She seemed genuine enough. Jack held out his arms in a regal gesture.

"I promised, didn't I, luv?" Her eyes knew that he was just saving face and that the internal arguement continued to rage. So far, it was Jack-3, Jack-0.

"Would you like to come inside?" She gestured to a small cottage of a thing up the hill and he tried his best to hide any repulsion inherent in his smile.

"Sure, why not?"

The room was warm. A fire in the middle kept a nice glow always on the walls and sparse furniture. Jack debated whether or not to remove his hat and felt very, very awkward. Elizabeth called from the next room,

"I saw your... boat... at the shore."

"It's a _ship_, luv..."

Her eyebrow raised defiantly, "Jack, The Pirate King can assure you that she has seen her fair share of ships now, and that peanut of a dingy isn't anything of a real vessel. So you'd be wise not to try and trick her."

Jack chose to ignore her remark about the peanut (_How did she know?_) and instead scoffed, "You're only 'The Pirate King' because I was trying to save all of our asses. And in that respect, you're only a figurehead; the Pirate King, holds no real legislative power."

Elizabeth's lips spread into an empty smile and she tilted her head to the far room. "Look in here."

Again, Jack manuvered awkwardly through the small, cozy abode and finally peeked through the door with Elizabeth over his shoulder. He stared curiously at the small child asleep in the bed until finally uttering a simple remark,

"Yours."

"Yes. He'll be ten next year."

"Ohhhhhhhh, right..." Jack backed away from the door and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Well, I hope I can be excused if I don't exactly wish to be around for _that _ten-year anniversary. I assume that's when he'll be back."

Elizabeth nodded.

"...For a day."

And nodded again.

"Well, that should be quite a reunion..." He trailed off and wandered back into the main room. "After ten years and all..." He was careful with this. "After... no lapses in judgement... never... going astray..." The question mark at the end of this drawn-out sentence was almost undetectable.

"I've been here for nine years, Jack," she said, that painted smile still on her. "I've only seen you, an occasional old friend... And, of course, my little boy."

"Faithful to last then, eh? Or at least... these days..." He watched her to see if the remark would dig but it didn't seem to in the slightest. Elizabeth just smiled, the mess of golden hair on her face hiding her high cheek bones. But when he spoke next, her smile faultered and her darker eyes questioned him.

"So then nothing's really changed." A moment of silence passed and Jack leaned forward a little, in order to use the right words to explain that strange statement. "I mean, sure, you've got ten years between every time alone and a cottage on a empty island instead of somewhere that's green... But other than that, it's the same. Nothing's changed..."

"That's... not entirely true..." Elizabeth's eyes were now back to their secret darkness, and Jack sensed he was about to learn why it was there.

"Things... changed. Will changed."

Jack snorted. "How? He's still pining and pirating. And I'll bet the second sunset hits those dunes next year, the green light'll flash not a second too late." He turned to face her, almost contrite with his greater knowledge, suddenly getting caught up in some piece of kitsch on a shelf. His fingers darted to it and he turned it upsidedown absently. "He's still perfectly Will."

"Jack... he's changed." At this, he replaced the object and their eyes met. Her voice lowered. "You can't expect a man not to change when something takes him over and claims him. He's not like always; he's rougher, older... Believe me. There's a darkness within him that seeped into his skin, his mind, and his... heart... what's left of it..."

Silent for a time, Jack opened his mouth and realized he had nothing to say. But never one to admit to speechlessness, he stared at her and said, "Sorry, luv."

"Don't be." And that smile crept over her lips. Jack's eyes widened,

"You like it."

She didn't respond because there was no need. The shadows in her eyes and that smile, which didn't seem so false anymore, were enough.

"A man will become what he must in order to survive. And a woman will let him... and learn to accept him as he is."

"And you most certainly have the look of a woman with acceptance in her heart."

"Whether in easy times or hard, darkness or light, he's mine and I'm his." She folded her hands neatly like a lady but raised her head firmly like a pirate. "There's both in all of us, Jack."

"I see why you stay then." He said this when he no longer felt like staying himself. "I bid you farewell, darling. Find a way to get to me if there ever is a need." He turned on his heel toward the door and was glad to be almost back on the beach, that much closer to the sea, when a thought struck him.

"Guess eternally happy endings are only for the stories, then, eh?"

"Eternal happiness would be a bore," she said. "It's not for those of us here, at the end."

He smiled over his shoulder. "Aren't we the lucky ones."

When he was gone, she stood in the middle of the room and it almost seemed as if he had not skittishly roared through her home like a controlled flame. Everything was where it should be, undisturbed.

In one year he would be home. Just one year. Just one day. She reached into her hair and found the hidden pin, letting the curled sunny waves fall to her shoulders. They had gotten dark at the roots. That smile again showed that so had she.


End file.
